Workshops

The Teaching Center’s STEM Pedagogies Workshop Series was designed in response to calls for improving STEM undergraduate education (e.g., Olson & Riordan, 2012) by training future faculty in evidence-based teaching.

Participation in these workshops—which focus on topics ranging from designing and implementing active-learning pedagogies to fostering metacognition in the classroom—is a central component of all levels of the WU-CIRTL program for future STEM faculty (Community Member, Associate, Practitioner, and Scholar).

The STEM Pedagogy Workshop Series integrates research, practice, and reflection:

Research—Student-centered learning is a knowledge-building process that requires active engagement with the content, collaboration with peers, and reflection on meaning and application. The STEM Pedagogies Workshops introduce participants to research findings on student learning from the cognitive and learning sciences, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and discipline-based education research.

Practice—Evidence-based pedagogies greatly enhance student learning, when implemented correctly (Anderson et al., 2001). Workshop participants experience, first-hand, active-learning pedagogies with experienced facilitators and then engage in a discussion on how research data from the learning and cognitive sciences can be translated into effective teaching practices (Fisher et al., 2013).

Reflection—Transforming workshop participants into reflective, scholarly teachers is at the heart of what we do. The STEM workshop participants test their own knowledge before and after workshops via clicker questions and are asked to reflect on how the topic applies to their own classroom teaching through a post-workshop writing exercise.

Three STEM pedagogies workshops are required for WU-CIRTL Community Member level. Five STEM pedagogies workshops (3 core and 2 elective topics) are required for the Associate level and beyond.

STEM Pedagogies workshops are offered every Fall and Spring semester. For current workshops, please click here​.

Core Topics

Applying Cognitive Science to Improve Teaching

Structuring and Teaching Introductory STEM Courses

Developing a Scholarly Approach to Teaching (or Introduction to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning)

Inclusive Teaching in STEM

Structuring Opportunities for Active Learning during Lectures

Elective Topics

Any STEM Pedagogies workshop that is not one of the Core Topics indicated above is identified as an Elective Topic. Example elective workshop titles can be found below.

Collaborative Learning: Philosophy and Implementation

Collaborative Learning: Designing Materials

Designing Materials for Inquiry-Based Laboratories

Inquiry-Based Laboratory Teaching: Philosophy and Implementation

Mentoring Undergraduate Research

Peer-Led Team Learning: Philosophy and Implementation

Problem-Based and Case-Based Learning: Philosophy and Implementation

Problem-Based and Case-Based Learning: Designing Materials

Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL)

Teaching Students How to Critically Evaluate Scientific Literature

Evaluation of these workshops is being supported by a National Science Foundation grant.